Jodee Champion remembers the first moment when she realized a woman isn't supposed to be both beautiful and funny.

She was a teenager. She had this awful teacher. Champion contorted her face to imitate the teacher, and instead of remarking on how funny the imitation was -- and it was, Champion assures -- a boy student sarcastically teased her, "Whoa, that's attractive."

At this juncture, Champion had two choices: Feel insecure and undesirable, or realize a temporary sense of ugliness was less paramount to getting a good laugh.

She chose the laugh.

Today, Champion, of Littleton, is one of the state's top stand-up comedians; Comedy Works in Denver recently promoted her to its "Almost Famous" list, and Champion will be the headliner for Saturday's Comedy Night at The Dairy Center for the Arts in Boulder.

The show will feature all female comics, a somewhat novel spin -- at least in Boulder -- for this male-centric field, says James Gold, a local comedian who is organizing The Dairy's comedy shows.

"These are some of the best artists in Denver right now, and they're females," Gold says. "I know there's a stereotype that comedy is a boy's game. That's not the case. Those days are long gone."

It's not that men are funnier than women, Champion says.

"Women feel unattractive when they're being goofy," Champion says. "There is more of a motivation to be a pop star or musician, so she can still be seen as very feminine and attractive."

Instead of letting this drag her down, Champion is using it to her benefit. In fact, she's made growing fame for herself by finding the humor in the way men treat women, and by choosing the laugh over the admiration (or at least attention), on her Tumblr, OnlineDatingGems.com.

Here, Champion posts screen shots of humorous (and often not safe for work) conversations between herself and men on online dating websites. The website and her Facebook fan page, where she posts even more of them, are going viral.

Lucky for the men, she blacks out their faces and names.

Man: your stupid

Champion: *you're

Man: you're aren't funny

Champion: *you aren't funny

Man: you (explicit) look stupid

Champion: *your (explicit) look stupid

Man: u win this round (explicit)

Champion: you win this round, (explicit).

Or another:

Man: Want to do dirty things to each other? ;)

Champion: the ol' shot-in-the-dark method huh?

Man: Haha yea, figured why not?

Champion: That depends. Would you be willing to wear my old headgear and a Lederhosen lined with contemporary mining explosives?

"People can relate to it," Champion says. "Women want to say these things back to men but they don't. They're afraid, 'If I respond like a man would, who has any wits or cleverness, then I'm not going to be as desirable.' But that's not even true."

She is weaving her online dating stories into her new material. She also talks about being a single mom, sex, dating and a particularly bad breakup. In fact, she began doing stand-up after her divorce five years ago.

"Everything you hear on stage from a comic is rooted in some kind of pain," she says. "When I first started doing stuff, it was more bitter than it is now. Now it's goofy and cathartic. If I've been through a bad breakup, at least 50 percent of the women in the audience have, too."

And feeling that connection is maybe even better than the laughter, she says.

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